Humayun Ahmed Biography • Creator of Himu and Misir Ali

Humayun Ahmed, commonly popular for creating the character “Himu”, to the readers of whole Bangladesh and in other countries also. He is a writer, film-maker, dramatist and also a professor of chemistry. Mostly, he is famous for his work on literature. He also started a new trend in filmmaking.

Humayun Ahmed born in Mymensingh, Bangladesh on November 13, 1948. His father Faizur Rahman Ahmed(Freedom fighter). His mother’s name was Ayesha Akhter Khatun. He was the eldest son in his family. His brother Md Zafar Iqbal is also a writer and physicist and younger brother Ahsan Habib is a cartoonist. He has also three sisters. He spent his childhood in Sylhet, Comilla, Chittagong, Bogra, Dinajpur, and Panchagarh.

Humayun Ahmed passed SSC from Bogra Zilla School in 1967 and passed HSC from Dhaka college in 1969. He graduated from Dhaka University with both Bachelor and Master degree in Chemistry. After graduation, he worked as a lecturer at the Bangladesh Agriculture University for six months and then he joined Dhaka College. He took Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from North Dakota State University.

Humayun Ahmed started writing during his university life. His first novel was “Nondito Noroke”(In Blissful Hell). He became very famous for making characters like “Himu”, “Misir Ali”, and “Shubhro”. This writer also wrote many novels about Bangladesh Liberation War. He wrote science fiction, short stories, teenage adventures, and also about the life of common people. He got “Bangla Academy Award” and “Ekushe Padak” as an honor. His total books are 200.

Humayun Ahmed was also very successful in his filmmaking life. He directed films based on his own stories. His first film was “Aguner Poroshmoni” which won the National Film Award for a total of eight categories included Best Director. He made “Shyamal Chhaya”,”Ghetuputra Komola”, “Amar Ache Jol” etc. He also wrote songs for his own film.

In his personal life, Humayun Ahmed got married twice. First wife Gultekin Khan was divorced in 2003. Then he married Meher Afroz Shaon in 2005. He was the founder of Nuhas Polli near Pijulia Village in Gazipur.

Humayun Ahmed died of colon cancer on 19th July 2012 at 11.20 pm at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Many people compared Humayun Ahmed with Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam. He will live forever in his work among the people who loved him.